The conference currently known as the Big East will become the American Athletic Conference.

Conference officials and television executives announced the change Wednesday. It will be effective at the end of the 2012-13 athletic season.

This Big East logo is about to become extinct. (Big East Conference)

The conference announced the decision after university presidents approved the new moniker earlier in the day.

"Versions (of the new name) that included the word 'American' led every list," conference commissioner Mike Aresco said in a statement. "American Athletic Conference represents a strong, durable and aspirational name for our re-invented Conference."

The name change was needed after the conference broke up earlier this year. A group of schools dubbed the Catholic 7 (Georgetown, DePaul, Marquette, Providence St. John's, Seton Hall, Villanova) formed their own conference and kept the Big East name as part of a settlement with the now-American schools.

Conference officials are emphasizing the shorthand name The American as it begins rebranding the league.

The American will have 10 teams in 2013-14: Cincinnati, Connecticut, Houston, Louisville, Memphis, Rutgers, SMU, Temple, UCF and USF. East Carolina, Tulane and Tulsa will join the conference for all sports in July 2014, replacing Louisville (Atlantic Coast Conference) and Rutgers (Big Ten). Navy will join the conference as a football-only member in 2015.

The rebuilt conference has new television deals in place with ESPN and CBS.

"The American Athletic Conference is a brand that suggests a national scope and quality membership," said Burke Magnus, senior vice president, college sports programming, for ESPN. "It is an exciting time for the new conference and ESPN looks forward to our future together."